gunsmoke on 14/9/2008 at 05:44
Quote Posted by dethtoll
Just as an aside: How many of you have seen Band of Brothers?
I own it on DVD.
suliman on 14/9/2008 at 06:21
I KNOW I wasn't the only one who laughed when it dissolved to an american flag in the ending. But, yeah, good movie overall.
BoB, on the other hand, was absolutely awesome.
gunsmoke on 14/9/2008 at 06:51
That series is what sparked my interest in Brothers in Arms. I bought/ played the first game the day it was released for PC, and recently ( few months ago), got Earned in Blood for XBOX.
mothra on 15/9/2008 at 13:23
Quote Posted by Angel Dust
It depends on what you mean by brutality of the war, stuff like 'Come and See' and 'Kanal' certainly pull no punches. I haven't seen any film pre-dating SPR that recreates the brutality and sheer chaos of the combat in WW2 as well as it does but since I haven't delved too deeply into WW2 film there may be something somewhere.
Anyway I'm sure mothra is going to turn up with some film but he is definitely way off-base with his 'mediocre' comment. It is not without it's flaws and he may not like the film but he is letting his anti-Speilberg bias cloud the obvious merits of the film. The fact is whether he likes it or not SPR
is a milestone film because a mainstream director made a mainstream film that pulled no punches in it's depiction of WW2 combat and it became a huge success, thereby changing the rules for subsequent films and creating a renewed interest in WW2 across many different mediums.
Edit: Wait a minute I thought dethtoll was on mothra's ignore list?
he is, i read the quote a little higher up.
and yeah, "come and see", the work of Agnes Vajda and some good other russian WWII flicks did come before and gave you unforgettable images AND deep and meaningful observations of war WITHOUT shying away at brutality. they may not did it in such a flashy, showy, holywood-way (one could call SPR technique boredom through confusion) but for me succeeded at much more leves than SPR did. and there's no scene in SPR that can top the nazi raid in "come and see", I was sick for hours after it while SPR felt more like a gimmick with his "look I can shake the camera" and schizo-cutting.
good observation Eva, I am totally biased against Spielberg and conciously ignore the things that work in his movies because he always manages to hit me over the head with his teddy-bear-hammer of righteousness and destroy the whole movie in the end.
Angel Dust on 16/9/2008 at 00:54
Quote Posted by mothra
he is, i read the quote a little higher up.
and yeah, "come and see", the work of Agnes Vajda and some good other russian WWII flicks did come before and gave you unforgettable images AND deep and meaningful observations of war WITHOUT shying away at brutality. they may not did it in such a flashy, showy, holywood-way (one could call SPR technique boredom through confusion) but for me succeeded at much more leves than SPR did. and there's no scene in SPR that can top the nazi raid in "come and see", I was sick for hours after it while SPR felt more like a gimmick with his "look I can shake the camera" and schizo-cutting.
I think, I can't know obviously, it was extremely effective in recreating the complete and utter chaos of combat and many agreed including, I have heard, veterans of the war and critics who also share your disdain for Spielberg. It is plainly obvious that your bias against Spielberg is largely, if not wholly, responsible for your dislike of the sequence and as a consequence nothing you say about can be taken as a valid criticism.
And yes we all know there are countless films that show the Nazi brutality or the effect the war has on people, I've seen 'Come and See' and agree it is probably the harshest vision, but where is the film that shows the brutality of WW2
combat in a similarily immersive way like SPR? If there is one I would wish to know because I would most certainly be interested.
Quote:
good observation Eva, I am totally biased against Spielberg and conciously ignore the things that work in his movies because he always manages to hit me over the head with his teddy-bear-hammer of righteousness and destroy the whole movie in the end.
You don't need to convince me that Spielberg's tendency towards sentimentality is his major flaw but to completely write off his obvious talents because of it is a shockingly narrow minded and stupid viewpoint for a so called 'cinema lover'.
mothra on 16/9/2008 at 13:36
well, then we have different definitions of "cinema lover", I can be pretty passionate about movies and if I don't like them, I don't like them. We could talk on a technical level about SPR, about the brilliant work by its cinematographer Kaminski and the location/design and many other things but at the end of the day I still have to enjoy a movie without having to look at its techincal accomplishments and boy, spielberg's direction and where he puts his emphasis on is just ... annoying for me.
take munich, another attempt at "intelligence". while the subject matter was very good, the movie was just StevenSpielberg doing a little Tarantino:
Scorsese Taxi Driver shoot out violence
DePalma assasination scenes
Hitchcock little girl in peril
Coppola sepia tone family dinner
Marathon Man Paris
Gavras "feel"
SSs KillBill
Thirith on 16/9/2008 at 15:18
I'd agree that Munich isn't a very good film, but to dismiss outright works such as Jaws or Raiders of the Lost Ark, which show amazing craftsmanship, isn't even elitism or arrogance. It's simply stupid.
I don't like most of what Spielberg has done in the last 10-15 years, but even in the films I didn't like I was able to admit that the guy knows a thing or two.
Jashin on 16/9/2008 at 16:40
It's interesting how many people who hated Oblivion are excited for Fallout 3. The writing's on the wall that it's gonna be more of Oblivion and less of FO. But hey, bethesda marketing's doing a good job of jedi mind-screwing people.
Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me you can't fool me anymore!!!
Morgoth on 16/9/2008 at 17:57
Do people around here know "The Thin Red Line"? Another recommendable WW2 movie.
Thirith on 16/9/2008 at 18:05
It's one of those "love it or hate it" films, by and large. I like it a lot but many hate the voiceover and what they call its pretentiousness.
